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U.S. Latino Hip-hop Internet Station Takes Off
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Wednesday, 02 February 2005
 Latino hip-hop has millions of fans around the world, but even in rap-saturated cities such as Los Angeles, it's hardly ever played on mainstream radio. Manuel Millan, a native of San Diego, California, fed up with the situation decided to do something about it and start his own internet radio station, latinohiphopradio.com.
"It's really hard for the Spanish hip hop scene to get into mainstream radio," Millan said. "You can't really just go on the radio and listen to hip-hop in Spanish... it's just not accessible. You usually have a very commercialized sound and the groups are not really known around the country or around the world."
The web-based radio, devoted to the hottest Spanish language rap and hip-hop tracks, is in both English and Spanish, and easy to navigate. There are no DJs, and the music is streamed over the net for free. All the user has to do is download a media player.
The two month-old site boasts tracks by artists such as Argentina's Mustafa Yoda, who currently has one of the hottest tracks on the site.
"He's considered the Eminem of Argentina, and the Latin American hip-hop scene," Millan says. "He really hasn't had that much exposure as far as anywhere in the world, but he's definitely the one to look out for as far as becoming the next big thing in the Spanish-speaking world."
Other hot groups in latinohiphopradio.com's Top 10 include the Chilean group Makisa, Cuban artist Papo Record, and Spain's Tote King whose track Uno Contra Veinte Emcees, or One Against 20 Emcees, is one of the most requested tracks.
"It's basically him bragging that he's one of the best emcees in Spain right now," Millan shared, "and it's pretty much true. He has the tightest productions, and his rap flow is impeccable, it's amazing."
In terms of audience, Mexico leads the way, accounting for about 50% of listeners, but Net heads in Spain, the leader in Spanish-language rap and hip-hop, account for about 25% of the web station's traffic.
Future plans for latinohiphopradio.com include adding more music and news from the world.
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| Last Updated (
Wednesday, 02 February 2005 ) |
